This solar map provides a summary of estimated solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation potential. It represents the average daily/yearly totals of electricity production from a 1 kW-peak grid-connected solar PV power plant, calculated for a period of 20 recent years (1999-2018).
The PV system configuration consists of ground-based, free-standing structures with crystalline-silicon PV modules mounted at a fixed position, with optimum tilt to maximize yearly energy yield. The optimum tilt ranges from 26° to 33° towards the equator. Use of high efficiency inverters is assumed. The solar electricity calculation is based on high-resolution solar resource data and PV modeling software provided by Solargis. The calculation takes into account solar radiation, air temperature, and terrain, to simulate the energy conversion and losses in the PV modules and other components of a PV power plant. In the simulation, losses due to dirt and soiling was estimated to be 3.5%. The cumulative effect of other conversion losses is assumed to be 7.5%. The power plant availability is considered to be 100%.
The underlying solar resource database is calculated from atmospheric and satellite data with a 30-minute time step, and a spatial resolution of 1000m.